Kevin Bronson on October 15th, 2014

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Thankfully, there’s Butch Walker. The 44-year-old singer-songwriter, who counts six albums, a Grammy nomination and a host of production credits on his resumé, has seduced with his keen sense of melody, deft lyrcism and everyman charisma dating back to his days in Marvelous 3. Last week he announced that his seventh solo full-length, “Afraid of Ghosts,” would be out Feb. 3 via Dangerbird Records. And if there’s any way to evoke sentiment from fans (of a certain age), it’s with the first single “Chrissie Hynde,” a paean to the Pretenders frontwoman. Even if you weren’t tethered to the radio back in the day waiting to hear Hynde’s singular quaver, Walker’s song plops you there, gently, suggesting that voices on the radio are indelible signposts in our lives. So, too, is Walker’s.

||| Stream: “Chrissie Hynde”